Now you can live like film director Baz Luhrmann… for just $35,000 a week

05/12/2016 | Events

IT‘s a stunning mansion fit for The Great Gatsby himself and it could be yours for only $5000 a night.

Hollywood heavyweight Baz Luhrmann’s historic Darlinghurst home Iona is now available to rent for a minimum of a week with a $35,000 price tag.

The director of Strictly Ballroom, Australia and The Great Gatsby and his Oscar-winning costume designer wife Catherine Martin are rumoured to have recently sold the property for $16 million.

The couple are yet to confirm the sale and the new buyers have not been named although it’s claimed the buyers are a low profile local Sydney couple — with a spare $16 million to their name.

Perhaps that’s why they look to have negotiated an extraordinarily long settlement period with the Luhrmanns of New York and have handed management of the home to Contemporary Hotels in the interim.

The company wouldn’t comment on the arrangement when contacted, although the property is listed for rent on its website for a minimum of a week to a maximum of three months.

“Iona is a truly extraordinary 1880s Italianate Villa in the heart of Darlinghurst,” the website description reads.

“Surrounded by established gardens and a sprawling lawn the villa features a grand entry hall, ballroom and extensive formal and casual living and entertaining spaces that showcase beautifully designed interiors by Catherine Martin.

“In addition to Iona’s nine bedrooms and seven bathrooms there is also a caterer’s kitchen and parking for up to twenty vehicles within this private inner Sydney oasis.”

Luhrmann and Martin, who have two children, first moved into the property in 1997, first renting it for nine years before buying the home for $10 million from Ian Gowrie-Smith in 2006.

It is the equal highest valued property in the portfolio on Contemporary’s website, the other being the six-bedroom Tamarama Villa.

Iona was on the market through Sotheby’s International Realty with details of the new owner being kept private.

It was built for pastoralist Edward Chisholm and later converted into Wootten Private Hospital.